Parking permits on tap for Fort Collins’ Old Town

The city of Fort Collins is developing a residential parking permit program for the Old Town neighborhoods surrounding downtown businesses.

The program got a nod from Fort Collins City Council earlier this month, and is up for final approval on Aug. 20.

The city already has received feedback from residents who feel that their neighborhoods would benefit from the program, so city staff can begin implementing it as soon as it gets approval from the city council.

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Residents in some neighborhoods downtown will be required to obtain a permit from the city in order to park on the street. Which neighborhoods will be part of the program are not yet known, according to Randy Hensley, parking services manager for the city of Fort Collins.

Guidelines for the program are still being worked out, Hensley said, but every residence included in the program will be able to obtain one permit for free, with a fee charged for subsequent permits.

Visitor and guest permits also will be available from the city. Costs for the permits aren’t set yet, but will be determined based on the cost of implementing the program.

The permit program is designed to relieve some of downtown’s parking issues, which include business traffic taking up residential spots on side streets. There are 10 to 12 neighborhoods where residents have said they have issues with parking, Hensley said.

The residential parking permit program will be implemented one neighborhood at a time, Hensley said, with signs marking the boundaries of the affected neighborhoods.

Service vehicles will still be able to park on residential streets, Hensley said, and non-residents will be able to obtain permits to park on residential streets on a “space-available” basis, according to the parking plan.

But the permit program is only one step toward creating more downtown parking. City estimates indicate that in the next 10 to 15 years, 750 to 1,000 additional parking spaces will be required to deal with increasing traffic and business activity, Hensley said.

As it now stands, the city brings in revenue from a variety of parking-related sources, all of which it invests back into parking infrastructure and services. In 2011, parking generated $1.94 million in revenue, according to data from parking services.

There are 11,001 spaces in the area surveyed by city planners. Of those, 3,591 are on-street public parking. Another 1,982 are off-street public parking, located in garages and surface lots. The rest are private spaces owned by downtown businesses such as Safeway and Sports Authority, Hensley said.

In addition to hourly paid parking in garages, enforcement and permits are the other two main sources of income for parking services.

Right now, the city knows it needs more parking but doesn’t yet have a way to pay for it, Hensley said. Options include establishing a tax similar to the Keeping Fort Collins Great tax, a .85 percent sales tax, or potentially setting up paid on-street parking.

The idea of paying for street parking was not well-received in community meetings held while developing the parking plan, but could eventually be implemented if a series of “triggers” are pulled, Hensley said.

Among these triggers is a 20 percent or higher increase in parking demand, or a 20 percent or higher increase in the number of parking citations.

Right now, parking on non-residential streets downtown is free, but comes with a two-hour time limit. Two parking garages provide one hour of free parking, then charge $1 per hour after that.

The parking plan also calls for creating a parking advisory board, which currently is being formed.

The board will include nine members, five of which need to have some connection to downtown. The remaining four members will be at large, Hensley said. The board members will be appointed by council members Gerry Horak and Bob Overbeck.

Other near-term steps include working with downtown employers to provide incentives to employees to avoid parking in high-demand areas, and a pay-by-cell phone option that would allow downtown patrons to use their phones to pay for more time in on-street spaces beyond the two-hour time limit.

The push to fix downtown parking, including the parking permit program, has been well eceived by business interests there.

“The residential parking permit appears to be the appropriate tool to use to solve this particular sub-area concern,” Matt Robenalt, executive director of the Downtown Development Authority, said in an email.

“The DDA remains supportive of the city’s commitment to establish a parking advisory board,” he said, “and we are looking forward to seeing the official appointment of this new board that will oversee and make recommendations to the City Council on parking plan implementation.”